Written question WQ90783

Good progress is being made in the delivery of the Manufacturing Action Plan.

Net Zero Industry Wales has secured £1.1 million to develop a new masterplan for decarbonising the Northeast Wales industrial region. A partnership involving Wales & West Utilities, Bangor University, Uniper, Net Zero Energy Systems and SP Energy Networks will see the formation of an official regional industrial cluster, which will provide a baseline for accelerating North East Wales’ response to the climate emergency. The cluster, which incorporates the Deeside and Wrexham Clean Growth Hubs, currently contributes approximately 2 million tonnes of industrial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions towards Wales’s carbon footprint.

We are developing more resilient supply chains closer to home. We are building a comprehensive database of companies in Wales so that we can exploit future opportunities and identify supply chain voids. Our initial work focuses on decarbonisation opportunities including Fixed and Floating Offshore Wind, the Optimised RetroFit Programme and the Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure and we plan to move onto other areas in 2024.

Regarding leadership and workforce skills, we are progressing our Careers Wales and Skills offerings, and continue to see impressive results achieved through the Welsh Government’s Toyota Lean Clusters Programme, which has helped over 100 companies across Wales improve their systems and increase their productivity.

Our Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) Cymru continues to support cutting-edge R&D across manufacturing and other sectors such as Agri-Tech where the UKs first fully autonomous tractor unit is demonstrating the how real time data can drive productivity gains.

In January I announced £1.5m to establish a ‘Digital Factory’ in Baglan, expanding the High Value Manufacturing Catapult (HVMC) presence in Wales. This includes a demonstrator space to provide manufacturing advice, signposting and raise awareness of the capabilities of the HVMC and opportunities for companies.

All of this is underpinned by our continuing focus on Fair Work and embedding the Social Partnership and Procurement Act.

Through Business Wales we continue to provide information, advice, guidance and practical support to businesses including those in our manufacturing sector. This includes access to support on HR advice, finance, business planning, carbon reduction, improvements in productivity and specialist support with Research Development and Innovation.